


Let Fondness Be Our Souvenir

by Nevanna



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Family, Gen, Missing Scene, Post-Episode: s02e20 Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back the Falls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-23 00:26:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7459431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevanna/pseuds/Nevanna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During a quiet moment before her departure, Mabel and Ford share a promise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let Fondness Be Our Souvenir

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first _Gravity Falls_ story, and requires full knowledge of the series.
> 
> The title is from "Changeless" by Carbon Leaf.

Ford sits down next to Mabel on the porch steps. “So, was your thirteenth birthday party everything that you dreamed it would be?” he asks.

Mabel looks up from her scrapbook. “If I were dreaming, there would be a lot more rainbows, and those trees over there would be singing to us.” She hums a few bars of an unfamiliar song. “Do you know what I’m talking about? We were all kinda busy for a while, so you might not… Anyway, this party was much nicer.”

“Yes, Dipper told me about that fantasy world of yours. I’ve always known that Bill is…” Ford catches himself. “He _was_ very good at offering people what they thought they wanted most.” _Cosmic knowledge. Intellectual challenges._ He’s thinking back to the bargain that he made years ago. _A friend who understands you like nobody else ever has, or ever could, and whose presence in your mind feels like the clasp of a hand or like puzzle pieces fitting together… until it becomes a shackle around your neck._

Mabel pats his arm. “You okay?”

“What? Of course.” Ford clears his throat. “I was saying… it takes a lot of courage and maturity to resist that kind of temptation.”

“My teacher last year kept saying that I needed to show more maturity.” Mabel is still staring up at him. “Before you go on your boat trip, can you write to my school and tell him that he was wrong and you know better ’cause you have all those degrees?”

Ford finds himself smiling back, the pressure around his throat gone. “I think you’ll prove that on your own. You might not even realize it sometimes.”

“Yesterday, Grunkle Stan told me that growing up doesn’t mean I have to stop using my imagination,” Mabel informs him. “And if anyone tries to feed me a load of rotten bologna like that, I should punch their lights out. I hope he’s right.”

“About which part?”

“Mostly the first one,” Mabel admits.

“It’s good to have him back, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is, but…” She closes the book and spends a minute worrying at the hem of her sweater. “I gotta ask you a question.” And Ford knows what that question will be even before she speaks, because her imagination has conjured some of the same monsters that lurk within his own. “Now that Grunkle Stan remembers who he is, do you think Bill could come back, too?”

Ford puts a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t know.” Those words, as ever, fill him with a mixture of hope and dread. “I can tell you that it’s unlikely, and I promise that, no matter what happens, I’ll keep an eye on Stanley.” He lowers his glasses. “ _Two_ eyes, even.” He doesn’t yet have a plan in case the demon becomes a threat again… that is, he has no plan that he’s ready to share with the kids. “I trust you to do the same for your brother.”

Mabel bobs her head. “I’m all about trust.” 

“You certainly have ours.” The girl has been reassured that nobody blames her for the part that she inadvertently played in endangering the world, but words don’t always convince, and so Ford doesn’t try to repeat them. “Junior high and high schools are breeding grounds for at least seven sub-categories of anomaly,” he says instead. “You two should pay close attention to any sports team that seems to be winning a few _too_ many games. And if the Jell-O in the cafeteria starts talking to you, I don’t think you’ll like what it has to say. Pour salt on it as quickly as you can.”

“If Dipper starts investigating those things, I've got his back!” Mabel declares, holding out her hand. “I _pinky_ -swear it!”

Ford links his little finger with hers. This is a deal that he has no problem making, and a promise that he’ll do his best to keep.


End file.
